LUKE THOMAS: Conor McGregor Doesn't Need Your Sympathy

Conor 2016 would mock this dude mercilessly I want to say that all the fans Conor fans are going to be like well he's making a more appropriate decision to maximize his to do that okay but I'm saying just in terms of preserving his health to give himself a maximum chance that's fine but the point I want to make is this guy built not just a reputation for taking stuff he built an identity this is what in 2016 he would say this is what I do I don't give up like these other guys I don't take shortcuts or low roads not low roads per se but easy easy outs I don't do that kind of thing I am the show when I show up it everything happens because of me this comment that he made here tells me he might go and fight Chandler and he might even win 2016 Conor McGregor is dead what I'm about to say is obvious but let's say it anyway Conor McGregor is absolutely making the right call to prioritize his health ahead of any scheduled about against Michael Chandler whenever the hell that ends up happening his broken toe is real and he's right to not want to compete under these circumstances it's a matter of debate how severe a broken toe could potentially impact performance but if you don't want to take the risk and you don't have to take the risk especially after numerous risk taking in the past then don't take the risk no harm no foul no one in their right mind including me thinks McGregor wanting to fight without a broken toe is a bad idea so I'll say it again in case anyone didn't hear me the first time he is making The Prudent and appropriate call by not fighting with a broken toe understand however it is HSB beyond belief to have very publicly and very viciously attacked opponents for doing this exact same thing in the name of their health and their career and now that the shoe is on the other foot fans of McGregor have demanded his decision be treated with Grace Civility and calm understanding for the love of God please be serious the push back is incomprehensibly off theark and a classic case of having your cake and eating it too if the roles were reversed a former McGregor opponent mocked him for pulling out of their previous fight and they now had to withdraw today from injury the US co- guard would have to be summoned to save them from drowning under a tital wave of blowback the basic fact of the situation is this while it is entirely rational and completely fine for McGregor to not want to fight injured it is absurd for others to demand that the only acceptable reactions for the rest of us to have to this decision be praise or solely focus on the wisdom of it or pretend his previous Behavior mocking others for doing the exact same thing isn't even relevant anymore it's very relevant and I'm going to show you why there are a few examples one could cite to make this point but the clearest is how McGregor treated ha dos sanjos ahead of their scheduled bout at UFC 196 dos anos withdrew from the bout less than two weeks before the fight due to a broken foot McGregor at that time responded like this I just thought it's another day it's always happening they always pull they always run they always make it out like they want it but really they don't want it so I was expecting it you know I looked at the picture do put up and it's it's a bruise I mean I heard ice works wonders what you want me to say and yeah you know it's hard to commit it to to to the SOS again you know same same with Jose he pulled it took him two goals to build up the courage hopefully maybe it could take for's two goals to build up the courage but when you pull out with an injury like that a bruise on the foot I mean there's not there's not much I can do to help you to bring you back in into the mix so um it does change things a little bit but we just have to see how that one plays out they all have sore vaginas lately it's crazy there's something going on I don't know Doos broke his foot and join in the same damn day same same way edar and how did his fans treat do sanos after McGregor excoriated him for withdrawing from a scheduled bout due to a legitimate injury like this it should not come as much surprise then that they have borrowed the general tenor of his demeanor and even some of the same talking points to lambast R a all of this is instructive because it helps explain why no matter what Behavior McGregor engages in there's always someone there ready to either excuse it pretend it didn't happen when it's no longer convenient or outright borrow it for their own amusement and even all of that would be fine but it's the extra step namely the demand that everyone else treat every decision he's ever made as reverential and nothing else that brings me to today's video what they want to argue is it's unfair to ask McGregor to fight injury or not appreciate the change he's made from being Reckless to being thoughtful what this is really about however is them trying to conceal McGregor's inexorable decline there will be mouth breathers who fail to understand a single thing I'm saying so let's respond to some of the more common responses you'll hear from them when noting it's completely insane to try and police reactions to McGregor changing his mind on what is now appropriate through this process you'll understand why the requirement to view McGregor's shift in tone and strategy is the exact opposite of being fair and trying to reconcile with the truth it's dumb to ask him to fight injured right and I'm not fighting injured is probably a really bad idea better to make smart decisions I don't have a problem with that the issue is not what he does next the issue is what he's doing now is something he once mocked as Unthinkable failure from which he is unencumbered and precisely what all that means different people will draw different conclusions about what it is but the effort to police any interpretation that isn't reflexively positive is the problem it's just trash talk and the fight game that's how it goes man this is true in a way that completely undercuts the very argument these people are trying to make if being awful to your opponent or rival is fully justified in the event of an injury withdrawal well that cuts both ways doesn't it RDA had his turn at being the nail but since this is the fight game he and his supporters have the right to now be the hammer don't they it's completely insane RDA was expected to sit there and take all of the abuse but then imagine McGregor is now somehow exempt from it people change dude it's not fair to hold what someone says in their 20s against them this one is my absolute favorite for starters and perhaps most importantly has McGregor ever once said he regretted anything he said about RDA after he withdrew from their fight to my knowledge he's never even come close to disavowing it it'd be one thing if he had regrets about how that took place in so far as what he said publicly He has expressed zero regret this is how you know the current plea for civility in kid gloving McGregor's actions is rooted solely in convenience not principle also note how this entire logic makes McGregor infallible to his supporters no matter the change or contradiction not withdrawing from bouts even when McGregor was injured badass withdrawing from bouts now that he's injured smart attacking opponents for withdrawing from bouts when they are injured that's awesome calls for civility now that McGregor is withdrawing from bouts that's maturity to these people it doesn't matter what the action is or how much the next one contradicts it all of it is Justified not because there's principle in play but precisely because there is none he fought injured before he's earned the right to not fight injured again for the billionth time no one is disagreeing he's right to not want to fight injured he should not fight injured I agree the question is why such a Brazen change in Behavior without a hint of acknowledging contradiction has to be treated by everyone else with reverence you're just a hater man no but I am in favor of equal opportunity hating popularity or a change of circumstance doesn't insulate you from richly deserving D critique if you listen closely you'll notice I'm not personally insulting McGregor what I am doing is arguing he is not exempt from the rules of the game that he's enjoyed playing when it suited him he helped establish unfair attacks for injury withdrawal as an acceptable mode of behavior that some of the blowback is headed his way is very much inevitable and part of the game McGregor is also not exempt from the original point that I made namely the very identity he crafted for himself that made him a star and a beloved figure an identity that he also used to draw unfair distinctions between himself and his competition has given way to yes an identity more rooted in rational decision-making but one that is a far cry from the rule breaker and Convention to fire that made him popular to begin with and this is why all of that is important there has been no acknowledgement that RDA was treated poorly or unfairly in fact the entire episode is being memory hold or at least treated as irrelevant like most of you I don't expect someone to be the same in their late 30s that they were in their mid-20s change is fine and also frankly inevitable but a change in strategy not taking fights injured isn't the same as having a genuine change of heart if the latter were there then yes McGregor would be entitled to a pretty decent amount of Grace and frankly understanding but to the best of what we know the latter isn't there McGregor has never said what he did to RDA was wrong or over the top his supporters want you to just pretend it just doesn't matter anymore well as long as that's the case others are well within their right to note this strategy shift might be smart for his winning prospects but the hypocrisy and rank unfairness of it all is hard to ignore and no one has to like it but comparisons are fair game the old Connor in 2016 makes the new Connor in 2024 look like he's wiser sure but also a Connor that's in Decline and that's what this is really all about that's the root of everything his supporters don't want you to pay attention to this undeniable larger more complicated truth yes clearly part of the difference between the Old and New Connor is more thoughtful decision-making but the need for more thoughtful decisionmaking is also a function of a diminished capacity not even to be the old Connor but to be anything noteworthy at all that is what they're trying to get you to not notice so if you like what the new Connor is doing fine celebrate there's good cause for it it can only serve him well I hope he makes a full and complete recovery hey I hope he has a great fight against Chandler I'm not even saying he won't win but McGregor supporters have zero right to police the discourse around him ultimately change without atonement looks a lot more like backtracking than seeing the light